El Paso, Elsewhere review for PC, Xbox

Platform: PC
Also on: Xbox Series X, Xbox One
Publisher: Strange Scaffold
Developer: Strange Scaffold
Medium: Digital
Players: 1
Online: No
ESRB: M

To say that El Paso, Elsewhere leans heavily on its influences would be a bit of an understatement. Itโ€™s a Max Payne homage with tons of drugs, lots of bullet-time shooting, and PS1-era graphicsโ€ฆso, Max Payne, but not, I guess?

Thatโ€™s being a little unfair, of course, for a few reasons.

First off, the vampires. El Paso, Elsewhereโ€™s story revolves around you fighting your way through floor after floor of werewolves, demons and and other monsters, all to get to their leader, a vampire named Draculae โ€“ who also happens to be the ex-girlfriend of the gameโ€™s protagonist, James Savage. Because youโ€™re battling so many undead nightmares, not only are you equipped with Uzis and handguns, youโ€™ll also need lots and lots of stakes, which adds a bit of close-quarters combat that the Max Payne games never really had.

On top of that, while El Paso, Elsewhereโ€™s gameplay may be straight out of the โ€˜90s, its soundtrack is much more modern โ€“ think pulsating, driving horror-rap that acts as a perfectly intense score to gunning and stabbing hordes of monsters.

If thereโ€™s a criticism to be made of El Paso, Elsewhere, itโ€™s that it all kinds of blends together after awhile โ€“ which kind of makes sense, seeing as youโ€™re fighting your way through a couple of dozen floors of monsters. Sure, the monsters vary a little, and the game takes place in a reality-shifting hotel which means that it gets awfully weird, but basically, youโ€™d better enjoy what you see in the first level, because youโ€™ll be seeing a lot of it.

Good thing, then, that I liked that first level โ€“ and, more importantly, that I liked Max Payne, because thatโ€™s pretty much a prerequisite for enjoying El Paso, Elsewhere. It may be a little short on originality, but all in all, itโ€™s fun enough that itโ€™s pretty easy to overlook that.

Strange Scaffold provided us with an El Paso, Elsewhere PC code for review purposes.

Grade: 8
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